Here is an issue that has very likely been faced before by professional A5 developers in the packaging and installation of their A5 applications. Some advice would be gratefully received from anyone who has faced and solved the problems I now describe.
My completed A5 application includes software components other than just A5 that need to be installed by a Windows-based installer. So I use Inno Setup Compiler (www.innosetup.com) for this purpose where I can create the registry keys, desktop shortcuts and load the files I need to prescribed folders. I also have my A5 application setup installer that includes my A5 application and runtime files.
I need to solve two problems here:
1. make sure my customers do not install my A5 application files to a folder where my own non-A5 software components cannot find them; and
2. present a single installer to my customers so they see it as single product rather than a non-integrated and confusing mess. 8-)
Possible solutions I have considered include:
A. Use the A5 runtime compiler do everything for me as it can include the registry keys and files I need for my non-A5 components. But, no, this won't work because I need more flexibility than it provides to create additional registry keys, desktop shortcuts, select different icons and also install to a variety of folders that are determined at install time.
B. Link the two setup installers together as one, running my one first and having it somehow tell the A5 installer that follows in which folder to place my A5 application files. This is probably a more viable solution, except I cannot work out what A5 program in the A5 setup package is run (after decompressing its contents) to do the actual install and also how do I tell it exactly what folder my A5 application is to go in (and preventing the user selecting somewhere else)?
Has anyone managed to solve these two problems (1 and 2 above)? [It would be really great if the good folk at Alpha Software have resolved this issue in version 6].
My completed A5 application includes software components other than just A5 that need to be installed by a Windows-based installer. So I use Inno Setup Compiler (www.innosetup.com) for this purpose where I can create the registry keys, desktop shortcuts and load the files I need to prescribed folders. I also have my A5 application setup installer that includes my A5 application and runtime files.
I need to solve two problems here:
1. make sure my customers do not install my A5 application files to a folder where my own non-A5 software components cannot find them; and
2. present a single installer to my customers so they see it as single product rather than a non-integrated and confusing mess. 8-)
Possible solutions I have considered include:
A. Use the A5 runtime compiler do everything for me as it can include the registry keys and files I need for my non-A5 components. But, no, this won't work because I need more flexibility than it provides to create additional registry keys, desktop shortcuts, select different icons and also install to a variety of folders that are determined at install time.
B. Link the two setup installers together as one, running my one first and having it somehow tell the A5 installer that follows in which folder to place my A5 application files. This is probably a more viable solution, except I cannot work out what A5 program in the A5 setup package is run (after decompressing its contents) to do the actual install and also how do I tell it exactly what folder my A5 application is to go in (and preventing the user selecting somewhere else)?
Has anyone managed to solve these two problems (1 and 2 above)? [It would be really great if the good folk at Alpha Software have resolved this issue in version 6].
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